


Promotion

by ThatSinga



Series: Rowvember 2020 [29]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Alcohol, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Original Character(s), Rowvember, Rowvember 2020, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27789508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatSinga/pseuds/ThatSinga
Summary: After Carlos' untimely death, someone needed to fill the void he had left behind.
Series: Rowvember 2020 [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995631
Kudos: 5





	Promotion

The mood had been very gloomy among the Saints recently. They had suffered a large blow at the hands of the Brotherhood the other day. The news of Carlos' death reached the Saints fairly quickly, mere hours after the Boss had taken him out of his misery. However, thus far, nobody, save the lieutenants, knew the full story about their dead friend's fate, the rest of the gang only knew that the Brotherhood had killed him by dragging him across the asphalt, chained to a truck.

Everyone had been pretty quiet since it had happened, sticking to themselves or small groups of friends they had within the Saints, there was no loud drinking or talking going on at the hideout, a mournful atmosphere filling the air instead.

The Boss was among the ones who had been affected the most, having been the one to actually end his life. Even if she did it to end her friend's suffering, she couldn't help but feel his blood on her hands, she had failed him. This had been the second heavy hit to the gang, Aisha's death a few months ago had been the first. Granted, the former singer had not formally been a part of the gang, an associate at most, and most of the crew hadn't even known her, but Carlos was a lieutenant, every Saint knew who he was, seeing him regularly at the crib, doing jobs for him, just chatting, or listening to him playing the guitar as they sat around the burning trash pile in the middle of the hideout at night.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Velvet had been very fond of the young man, more than she let on. He had been the one to help her get out of prison when she had a hard time adjusting to her new limbs that had lain dormant for years. Even when he messed up on jobs or with the info gathering on the Brotherhood, she found it easy to forgive him, whereas she would have been scornful towards anyone else for failing. She had simply taken a liking to the boy, it had been obvious that he tried hard to please her, looking up to the woman whom his late brother had told him so much about, "Es una saint muy chingona," as he used to say. Furthermore, the demoness had been very proud of him when he eventually stepped up and provided her with good intel, going as far as to reward him personally, he even got to keep his soul.

Vivi had been locked away for over two days now, only the lieutenants entered her bedroom a few times to talk. Other than that she had spent the time sulking in her room, thinking of what had gone wrong, how it had come to this, and what should be done better in the future, she didn't want to lose more members of her new family.

Carlos died because he got jumped, unable to defend himself. She knew he hadn't been the best fighter, yet she never thought of helping him improve. As the leader, that burden was on her. That's why she decided to act, make sure something like that wouldn't repeat itself, or at least, prepare her crew better for such situations. For the first time in the last 50 hours, she unlocked the door to her room and stepped outside. The Saint standing guard outside of it jumped a little at the sudden noise.

"Oh, woah! Hey there, Boss," he saluted as she walked by him.

"Have you seen Katie?" The redhead inquired, her plan required the blonde's assistance.

"She passed through here about fifteen to twenty minutes ago, heading downstairs." He pointed towards the staircase.

"Thanks." Velvet made her way towards the downstairs lobby of the hideout, where Kate was supposed to be.

Velvet held onto the railing of the balcony overlooking the lower level, trying to spot the blonde in the sea of purple that had been gathering below her. She had called off most of the jobs to keep a low profile while the gang would recover from losing one of their higher ranking members, so there were more people here than usual.

She finally spotted the woman sitting at the newly set up, improvised bar that was basically just a couple of wooden boards put across building bricks with an old fridge behind it, and some crates to sit on in the front. 

Kate had gotten herself a beer from the rusty fridge, she wasn't an alcoholic, but she would sometimes drink when she was upset and done with her workout. Carlos' death had taken a toll on her as well. He had been the first member of the Saints to properly speak to her. Sure, she had exchanged a few words with Johnny and the Boss before meeting the Hispanic lieutenant, but she had had an actual conversation with the boy, chatting about their canonizations and making small talk.

As Katharina was taking another swig of her beverage, she heard the familiar clicks of the Boss' heels approaching through the crowd behind her.

"Hey," Velvet just greeted her as she put a hand on Kate's shoulder, sitting down on the unoccupied crate next to her.

"Sup?" she responded back with little to no emotion.

Vivi was aware that the woman had gotten along well with Carlos, and that his passing must have been hard on her, too.

"How you doin’?" Kate noticed the Boss’ tone, she sounded clearly troubled.

During her time with the Saints, one thing she had learned about the Boss, was that despite being a demon, she was capable of feeling human emotions.

"I've been better," she admitted, taking another gulp of her beer.

"You and Carlos were close, right?" Velvet asked her, breaking the ice.

"Yeah, I guess. He was a sweet kid," she commented. Kate had always thought Carlos was too kind to be part of the gang, he didn't seem like a killer.  
"We got along pretty well, maybe not as well as you two did, but I enjoyed his company." The blonde was referring to the rumor among the Saints that Carlos and the Boss had been intimate with one another, at least once or twice.

Velvet just raised a curious eyebrow at the statement, but didn't press any further, "His loss affects us all." She turned around on her seat to face the other woman.  
"Not just emotionally, but also strategically." Velvet knew it sounded disrespectful to talk about his death like losing an asset while his body was still warm, but at the end of the day, she still had a gang to run.

Kate put down the empty glass bottle, looking at her leader, waiting for her to continue so she'd know whether or not to hit her over the head with it.

"Which is why I wanted to talk to you, but I'd prefer a more quiet environment, it's too loud down here." She got up and indicated for Kate to follow her.

They made their way through the crowd and back upstairs into what Vivi imagined would become her office in the future. For now it was merely an old desk, a wooden chair, and a sofa that had seen better days. At least it wasn't as noisy up here. Velvet sat down on the chair, as Kate took a seat on the couch on the other side of the table.

"We're keeping our heads low at the moment, recovering from our loss, and regaining our strength," she started, "But we gotta get back on our feet and not show weakness, otherwise the Brotherhood will use this to their advantage to hit us even harder. They've already retaken a big part of Cecil Park in less than two days." She paused for a moment before continuing, "We can't get sloppy with every loss, even if it's hard to keep going sometimes."

"I get what you're saying, but what does it have to do with me specifically?" Kate wanted to know why it had been her of all people the Boss wanted to talk to.

"Carlos was tasked with taking down those sons of bitches, and while I can have Pierce or Johnny fill in, I also need their talents elsewhere."

Kate understood what her leader was saying, Johnny and Pierce had been the main force alongside the Boss in taking down the Ronin, but even after the biker gang's downfall, the two of them still had other things to do. Johnny was overseeing the gang's weapon and ammo supply, while Pierce was in charge of managing the Saints subgroups, such as the getaway drivers, drug dealers, as well as scouting and canonizing new members.

"I want to put you in charge of the Brotherhood," Velvet got to the point.

Kate was surprised at being given such an important task out of nowhere.

"That's a heavy responsibility, Boss, I-I," she was stammering a little, her mind not being able to keep up with the conversation.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you. As I said, the other lieutenants have jobs of their own, but that doesn't mean they won't pitch in to help, this is a group effort, Katie."

Kate was still trying to process the information, not even noticing the nickname she despised.

"I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think you had what it takes, I trust you." Velvet meant what she said.

Back when Kate joined the Saints, she was a good fighter when it came to hand-to-hand combat, but she was cocky and had a bad habit of turning her back on downed opponents, leaving herself wide open. She also had a hard time taking lives as a new member, something she had come to terms with by now. The demoness believed the blonde was up to the task.

“Of course you'll be compensated more graciously, too," she added some incentive to the promotion.

"I gotta think about it, Boss, this is a lot to decide right now." Kate was still overwhelmed with the request.

"I get it, but please let me know by the end of the week, we can't sit around much longer." She pressed, they couldn't afford to lose more territory to Maero's crew.

"I will," the blonde promised.

"Thanks, in the meantime, I have another request for you." Velvet wasn't done yet.

"What would that be?"

"Would you be up to training those chumps?" Velvet nodded towards the downstairs area where the majority of the gang had been gathered.

"Train them?"

"Yep, help them work out, teach them self-defense. You're an amazing fighter, Katie, I know you can handle yourself, but I can't say the same for most of them, trust me, I've seen their canonizations, take away their guns or ammo and they're sitting ducks," she elaborated.

"Yeah sure, I can do that. But how am I going to take care of the Brotherhood and train every Saint in hand-to-hand at the same time?" Kate thought it was too much to do for a single person.

"As I said, the Brotherhood are a group effort, all of us will pitch in, nobody is alone in the Saints." The Boss gave Kate a reassuring look.

The blonde just nodded in response.

"As for the training, I already asked Johnny to help those motherfuckers improve their aim. If he sees even one of them holding their gun sideways, or shooting from the hip, he has my permission to kick them in the nuts. But he agreed to help with the workout and fighting, too."

That explained the shooting range the second in command had been setting up outside in Old Stilwater since early in the morning.

"Alright, but we'll need space, and equipment. For the beginning, a couple of gym mats should do the trick, maybe a training dummy or a punching bag to demonstrate and practise attacks on." Kate was using her fingers to count what she would need to get the gang in shape.

"You'll get all of those. Give Pierce a list of things you need, he will arrange it. For the space I was thinking the room in the back behind the new bar would be good enough for the time being." She was referring to the open space downstairs, a little off to the side.

"That should suffice for a start," the blonde pondered.

"Great, so yeah, run these things by Pierce, and get back to me by Sunday whether you're up for taking on those sideshow freaks or not," the Boss instructed the woman.

The two Saints then got up from their seats, Velvet extended a gloved hand over the desk, that Kate hesitantly shook, looking the demoness in the eyes as she accepted her new position as the gang's physical instructor.

"Alright, let's introduce the newest lieutenant to the rest of the crew," Vivi suggested, motioning for them to step outside and announce Kate's promotion.


End file.
